Many of the most popular stores are franchised, such as Sonic and Taco Bell. However, not all stores are franchised, even if they are a chain. Instead, stores can also be run as corporations, where shareholders control all the stores.
In fact, Rite Aid is a popular store, so many may wonder if it’s franchised. If you’d like to find out, keep reading below!
Is Rite Aid a Franchise In [currentyear]?
Rite Aid is not a franchise in [currentyear]. Instead, it’s a corporation that is owned by a variety of shareholders. Most of the company’s shareholders are institutions, though – not individuals. Therefore, these stores are owned largely by mutual funds and similar corporations. For individual stores, this means that all decisions are made at a corporate level.
The difference between a franchise and a corporation is a bit complicated. So, for more information about Rite Aid’s ownership, keep reading!
How Much Is a Rite Aid Franchise?
Currently, you can not purchase the right to open up a Rite Aid store.
While Rite Aid does purchase stores from other pharmacies and have locations available for lease, the company will not allow you to open up your own store in its name.
With that said, managers do have quite a lot of freedom when compared to other companies.
However, managers are appointed, so you cannot purchase your own store and make yourself a manager.
Does Rite Aid Have a Franchise Fee?
Because Rite Aid doesn’t franchise, there is no franchise fee. Instead, this company owns all its own stores and runs them all directly.
Managers are appointed from those within the store, or hired by the company.
Generally, this is the same setup that most companies of this size have. Larger companies like Hobby Lobby, Walmart, and Target all run their own stores and do not have franchises.
Why Isn’t Rite Aid a Franchise?
While some stores decide to franchise, Rite Aid has decided to stay on the corporate route.
The company believes that it can maximize profit by managing all stores at the corporate level. Therefore, Rite Aid handles all of its stores through managers, not franchisers.
Furthermore, not franchising the company allows Rite Aid to take complete control of each store and ensure that they are standardized.
Therefore, customers know exactly what to expect when they walk into each store.
Plus, the company can also do what it wants with each store, which allows it to sell stores as those at the corporate level see fit.
Rite Aid holds a significant part of the pharmaceutical market.
For the most part, Rite Aid is owned by institutional investors. In other words, it’s owned by other companies and not specific individuals.
In fact, individual stockholders only make up 4% of their ownership. Instead, they’re owned by mutual funds and other institutions.
Rite Aid’s largest investor is the Vanguard Group, which is a mutual fund company.
The Vanguard Group is one of the world’s largest investment companies, so it only makes sense that it would purchase Rite Aid shares.
A few other top investors include BlackRock Fund Advisors, Invesco Advisors, and SSgA Funds Management.
What’s the Difference Between a Franchise and a Corporation?
For the most part, a corporation is owned by shareholders, who appoint a board of directors.
Exactly how the company is run from there varies, as well as the size of the board of directors.
Typically, profits from the company are distributed out to the shareholders.
All business decisions are made at the corporate level, often without much input from individual managers.
The manager of a corporate-owned store can have their store sold by the corporation.
However, a franchised store is owned by the company and the individual running that specific location.
The individual running the store must pay franchise fees and royalties.
However, once those fees are paid, the profit can be distributed directly to the individual, instead of it being passed to shareholders.
This store owner makes all of the business decisions for their store and has to pay all the fees that go along with the store. For instance, they will have to pay for real estate.
Which Store Chains are Franchised?
Most of the successful store franchises are fast-food places. For instance, Mcdonald’s is franchised, as is Dunkin’ Donuts.
However, some other stores are also franchised, including 7-Eleven and Great Clips.
There are quite a few chains that are franchised, but many other successful chains are not. For instance, Walmart and CVS are not franchised, and all of their stores are run at a corporate level.
To know more, you can also see our posts on Rite Aid competitors, Rite Aid’s slogan & mission statement, franchise ownership facts, and what is Rite Aid.
Conclusion
Rite Aid is not currently a franchise. Instead, all of its stores are owned and operated by shareholders. Instead of individual stores being made independently, stores are run at a corporate level.
Therefore, Rite Aid is technically owned by a variety of different investors. Most of these are institutions in Rite Aid’s case, though, which basically means that the largest investors are mutual funds.
